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. 


U.S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE, 

BDREAU   OF   ENTOMOLOGY— CIRCULAR   No.  149. 

L.  O.  HOWARD.  Entomologi.1  ind  Chirt  of  Bureau. 


THE   COTTON    STAINER. 


W.  I).  HUNTER, 

Til  '  '  F  ligations. 


•  A.swiNGTON  :  OOVERNXCT   PRIMING  OFFICE  :  1»1J 


B  UREA  U  OF  ENTOMOLOG  Y. 

L.  0.  Howard,  Entomologist  and  Chief of  Bureau. 

C.  L.  Marlatt,  Entomologist  and  Acting  Chief  in  Absence  of  Chief. 

R.  S.  Clifton,  Executive  Assistant. 

W.  F.  Tastet,  Chief  Clerk. 

F.  H.  Chittenden,  in  charge  of  truck  crop  and  stored  product  insect  investigations. 

A.  D.  Hopkins,  in  charge  of  forest  insect  investigations. 

W.  D.  Hunter,  in  charge  of  southern  field  crop  insect  investigations. 

F.  M.  Webster,  in  charge  of  cereal  and  forage  insect  investigations. 

A.  L.  Quaintance,  in  charge  of  deciduous  fruit  insect  investigations. 

E.  F.  Phillips,  in  charge  of  bee  culture. 

D.  M.  Rogers,  in  charge  of  preventing  spread  of  moths,  field  work. 

Rolla  P.  Currie,  in  charge  of  editorial  work. 

Mabel  Colcord,  in  charge  of  library. 


Southern  Field  Crop  Insect  Investigations. 
W.  D.  Hunter,  in  charge. 

F.  C.  Bishopp,  A.  H.  Jennings,  H.  P.  Wood,  W.  V.  King,  engaged  in  tick  life-history 
investigations. 

W.  D.  Pierce,  G.  D.  Smith,  J.  D.  Mitchell,  Harry  Pinkus.  15.  R.  Coad,  R.  W. 
Moreland,  engaged  in  cotton-boll  weevil  investigations. 

A.  C.  Morgan,  G.  A.  Runner,  S.  E.  Crumb,  D.  C.  Parman,  engaged  in  tobacco  insect 
investigations. 

T.  E.  Holloway,  J.  L.  Webb,  E.  R.  Barber,  engaged  in  sugar  cane  and  rice  insect 
investigations. 

E.  A.  McGregor,  W.  A.  Thomas,  engaged  in  red  spider  and  other  cotton  insect  investi- 
gations. 

R  A.  Cooley,  D.  L.  Van  Dine,  A.  F.  Conradi,  C.  C.  Krumbhaar,  collaborators. 


Circular  No.  149. 


United  States  Department  of  Agriculture, 

BUREAU   OF   ENTOMOLOGY. 
L.  O.   HOWARD.   Kntomologist  »nd  Chief  of  Bureau. 


THE  COTTON  STAINER, 

/< itdercut  tuturelhu  II  -Si  b 

By  W.  D.  11 1  mi  i;, 
In  <  f  Southern  Field  Crop  Insect  Investigations. 

i\  I  EtODUOTION. 

The  cotton  stainer  (Dysdercus  suiureUua  H.-Schf.)  ia  tin-  only 
representative  in  the  United  States  of  a  lar^e  group  of  species  which 
includes  the  mosl  important  enemies  of  cotton  in  tropical  countries. 


Km.  1. — The  cotton  stainer  (Dfiitrtut  sututdlu*)    a,  Nymph,  oi  s.  nymph, 

■BOOB  I  '     mph,  thir  I  Prom  \i 

There  are  28  species  of  the  genus  known  in  the  Americas.  The 
form  which  occur--  in  the  United  State-  is  not  of  very  great  impor- 
tance, on  account  of  it-  local  restriction,  but  in  Florida  it  i-  un- 
doubtedly the  mosl  important  cotton  inseci  that  exists  at  prc-ciit. 
It  has  been  known  a-  an  enemy  to  cotton  in  that  State  for  many 
years,  hut  has  never  shown  any  tendency  to  spread  to  other  regions. 

i 


THE   COTTOX    STAINEB. 


DISTKimTIOX. 


The  cotton  stainer  of  the  United  States  is  known  only  from  Florida. 
Georgia,  and  portions  of  South  Carolina  and  Alabama.  Except  in 
Florida  it  occurs  in  small  numbers. 

Outside  of  the  United  States  this  insect  is  known  from  the  upper 
West  Indian  Islands,  namely,  Bahamas,  Cuba,  and  Porto  Rico. 
There  is  a  doubtful  record  of  its  occurrence  in  Brazil.  The  evidence 
available  at  this  time  seems  to  show  rather  conclusively,  however, 
that  it  does  not  extend  south  of  Porto  Rico.  In  the  lower  islands 
of  the  West  Indies  it  is  replaced  by  other  specie-. 

DESCRIPTION. 

The  following  description  of  the  adult  insect  is  taken  from  an 
account  by  Dr.  L.  O.  Howard.1 

"The  adult  bug  varies  in  length  from  10  mm.  to  15  mm.  (0.4  to  0.6 
inch).  The  hinder  portion  of  the  thorax  and  of  the  wing-covers  varies 
from  dark  brown  to  black,  the  latter  being  crossed  with  narrow 
lines  of  light  yellow,  as  shown  in  Figure  52,  b  [fig.  2,  b].  The  head 
and  forepart  of  the  thorax  are  red,  varying  from  light  to  dark.  The 
underside  of  the  body  is  bright  red,  with  the  segments  outlined  by 
narrow  light-yellow  bands.  The  antenna?  are  black,  as  are  also  all 
tibia?  and  tarsi;  the  femora  or  thighs  are  red.  The  beak  is  red. 
except  the  last  joint  which  is  black.  All  of  these  colorational  mark- 
ings vary  considerably  in  intensity." 

The  eggs  are  oval,  light  yellow  in  color,  and  when  magnified 
show  a  finely  reticulated  surface.  They  are  deposited  loosely  in 
the  sand  or  earth  or  upon  the  food  plants.  Each  female  depo>it- 
about  100  eggs. 

The  immature  stages  of  this  insect  (fig.  1)  resemble  the  adidt  in 
form  and  coloration,  although  the  general  color  of  the  body  is  some- 
what more  reddish. 

FOOD  PLAXTS. 

The  cotton  stainer  has  a  number  of  food  plants.  The  only  ones 
of  any  special  importance  aside  from  cotton  are  the  orange  and  the 
eggplant.  The  damage  to  cotton  far  surpasses  that  to  the  other 
plants.  In  the  case  of  the  orange  the  habit  of  the  insect  is  to  attack 
the  fruit  at  about  the  time  it  is  ripening.  This  is  evidently  a  tem- 
porary habit,  probably  induced  by  the  general  scarcity  of  the  normal 
food  plants  at  the  time  the  oranges  are  ripening.  The  injury  to 
eggplants  was  recorded  in  1896  by  Prof.  A.  L.  Quaintance,  but 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  considerable. 

Among  the  wild  plants  upon  which  this  insect  feeds  are  Hibis- 
cus sp.,  as  well  as  several  others  including  guava,  Spanish  cocklebur 

•  Insect  Life,  vol.  1,  pp!  237-238, 18S9. 


PHE  COTTON  STAIN i  i;.  ,'j 

(f'rriifi  lobata),  and  nightshade  {Solarium  nigrum).  Observations 
made  in  the  vicinity  of  Orlando,  Fla.,  bj  Dr.  \  w  Morrill,  indicate 
thai  the  Spanish  cocklebur  i-  probabh  the  most  importanl  of  these 
plants. 

l>  \\i  IG1 

Prom  observations  made  in  the  Bahamas  in  1878,  Mi.  E.  A. 
Schwarz  concluded  thai  this  Bpecies  is  an  enemy  of  cotton  of  very 
greal  importance  in  those  islands.  In  Florida  the  damage  is  scat- 
tered and  naturally  difficult  to  estimate.  In  one  instance,  pointed 
<>ut  by  Dr.  Morrill,  the  complete  destruction  of  25  acres  of  long-staple 
cotton  was  attributed  to  this  insect.  Generally  .  however,  the  injury 
dot'-,  doI  extend  further  than  tin-  staining  of  a  portion  of  the  crop 


Pro.  a     n 

(Fr 

produced  on  the  plantation.  A  case  referred  to  by  Dr.  Morrill'  is 
undoubtedly  typical.  In  this  instance  at  Hawthorn,  Fla.,  in  1902, 
about  1,000  bales  of  long-staple  cotton  were  ginned  at  a  certain 
establishment.  ( hit  of  this  number  200  bales  were  classed  as  stained. 
Staining  reduces  the  value  of  the  cotton  in  varying  degrees,  running 
from  50  per  cent  in  -  ases  down  to  5  or  10  per  cent. 

It  has  generally  been  supposed  thai  the  staining  of  the  fiber  was 
due  to  tlic  excremenl  of  the  insect,  bul  Dr.  Morrill's  observations 
in  Florida  seem  to  indicate  that  this  is  nol  the  true  explanation, 
From  studies  in  the  fields  and  experiments  in  rearing  cages  he  came 
to  the  conclusion  thai  the  staining  of  the  lint  is  the  resull  of  the 
attack  of  the  insects  upon  immature  bolls,  and  especially  on  the  seed 

-     ! siir.  Em.,  I 


4  THE   COTTON   STAINER. 

at  about  the  time  of  the  opening  of  the  bolls.  The  brownish  color 
appears  to  arise  from  the  injured  seed.  At  any  rate  the  examination 
of  considerable  seed  cotton  showed  practically  invariably  that  the 
stain  was  most  dense  immediately  surrounding  the  seed.  Another 
reason  for  the  conclusion  at  which  Dr.  Morrill  arrived  was  that  the 
amount  of  staining  found  was  generally  entirely  too  great  to  be 
accounted  for  by  the  excrement  of  the  insect,  although  there  is  no 
doubt  that  a  portion  of  this  stain  is  due  to  that  cause.1 

REPRESSION. 

One  habit  of  the  insect  makes  it  amenable  to  simple  control  meas- 
ures. This  is  its  tendency  to  develop  in  close  colonies  restricted  for  a 
long  time  to  one  or  at  most  to  a  very  few  plants.  At  such  times  the 
red  color  of  the  bugs  makes  them  conspicuous  objects.  When  they 
are  found,  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  destroy  them  by  jarring  them  into 
buckets  containing  a  little  water  and  a  few  drops  of  kerosene.  This 
will  be  found  perfectly  satisfactory  and  an  economical  method  of 
control.  In  special  cases  the  purchase  of  spraying  machinery  and 
the  application  of  kerosene  emulsion  may  be  justified.  By  practicing 
the  destruction  of  the  colonies  scrupulously  through  the  season 
practically  all  can  be  destroyed  before  they  have  an  opportunity  to 
injure  cultivated  plants.  As  has  been  noted,  the  weed  known  as 
Spanish  cocklebur  should  be  watched  especially.  Of  course  the 
planter  will  realize  that  preventing  the  growing  of  this  useless  plant 
and  others  that  support  the  bug  will  have  the  effect  of  an  insurance 
against  injury  to  his  crops. 

At  certain  seasons,  especially  in  the  fall  and  early  spring,  the  cotton 
stainer  can  be  attracted  to  baits.  Cottonseed  or  sugar  cane  are 
very  suitable  for  this  purpose,  more  especially  the  former.  If  small 
heaps  of  cottonseed  are  placed  in  the  cotton  fields  or  in  their  imme- 
diate vicinity,  it  will  be  found  that  they  soon  become  densely  cov- 
ered by  the  stainers.  At  such  times  they  may  easily  be  destroyed 
by  the  use  of  hot  water  or  kerosene. 

Mr.  P.  L.  Guppy  has  published  an  account  (C'ir.  Xo.  6,  Board  of 
Agriculture  of  Trinidad  and  Tobago,  Dec.  17,  1911)  of  experiments  in 
using  baits  formed  of  seed  cotton  for  attracting  the  stainers.  Small 
balls  of  seed  cotton  were  hung  on  the  cotton  plants.  These  balls 
consisted  of  a  large  handful  of  seed  cotton  wrapped  with  twine.  It 
was  found  that  large  numbers  of  the  stainers  were  attracted  to  these 
balls.  At  intervals  of  several  days  the  balls  were  carefully  removed 
from  the  plants  and  shaken  over  receptacles  containing  oil.     It  is 

i  Recently  Mr.  P.  L.  Gappy  (Cir.  No.  G,  Board  of  Agriculture  of  Trinidad  and  Tobago,  p.  131,  Dec.  17, 
1911)  verified  Dr.  Morrill's  finding  as  to  the  origin  of  the  slain.  Hestates:  "  The  damage  is  done  before  the 
bolls  open  by  the  insect  piercing  the  walls  in  order  to  obtain  the  Juices  and  the  cell  sap  exudes  through  the 
punctures  thus  made  to  the  cotton  lint  which  is  being  formed  inside  the  boll."  This  statement  refers  to 
Dysdcrcus  howardi  Ballon. 


I  1 1 1     i  t  >  I  1 1 '  \    .-  I  \  I  M  I ; .  f> 

very  doubtful  whether  this  method  will  be  found  of  practical  use  in 
the  United  States,  bul  i(  Beems  worth}  of  trial. 

\\  e  maj  summarize  the  feasible  means  of  control  in  their  order  "I 
importance  as  follows: 

l.  The  prevention  of  the  growth  of  the  weeds  upon  which  the 
cotton  stainei  breeds  in  great  numbers. 

_'.  The  destruction,  by  means  of  kerosene  and  water,  of  the  cole- 
Dies  of  young  bugs  as  Boon  as  thej  make  their  appearance  during  (he 
gnw  ing  season. 

3.  The  attracting  of  the  insects  to  Bmall  piles  of  cotton  seed  and 
their  destruction  when  congregated  in  large  numbers  by  means  of  hot 
w  ater  or  kerosene. 

Apl>m\  ed : 

.1  \M  ES    W  li. ><  >V 

St  cretary  of  AgrieuUun  . 
\\  isaaxortox,  1>.  (  .,  January  18,  191B. 


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